Half-assed Preview: Wizards @ Hornets

The Hornets take on the other end of the alphabet this evening when the Washington Wizards hit the Ford Center. This is the first game of a back-to-back, with our guys travelling to Milwaukee to play the Bucks tomorrow, a game that will no doubt be completely overshadowed by Saints vs. Eagles.

But before we forget about basketball, here's the 411 on Hornets-Wizards tonight…

First meeting of the year for these two teams, with the Hornets' trip to Washington scheduled for March 17th. Great day to be Irish.

The Wiz have been hot recently, winning eight of their past nine, the lone loss in that stretch coming in Toronto against the not very good Raptors last Sunday.

Washington are 20-14 on the season, and just 6-11 on the road. They're 1.5 games behind Cleveland for the top spot in the East. FYI, the East sucks.

Gilbert Arenas is of course the main weapon for the Wizards. Darnell Mayberry has a great story on Gil in today's Oklahoman. You can't not like the guy, although I reserve the right to hate him by tomorrow. He's averaging 30.2 points so far this season and the Hornets will have no answer for him. Could get nasty.

Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison are the other big guns for Washington. They're both scoring about 20 and boarding about 8 per game. I still have issues with Butler from the Hornets-Heat series back in 2004.

As you might have guessed, the Wizards can score. They're averaging 108.2 points per game, second only to the Suns. Compare that to the Hornets' NBA-worst 89.8 points per game, and you're left with a disturbing differential. As John Reid points out in today's T-P…

The Wizards have scored at least 100 points in 18 consecutive games. When allowing 100 points or more, the Hornets are 0-10.

Tonight's game will be nationally televised on ESPN, I'm guessing because the Worldwide Leader in Sports just can't get enough of Jannero Pargo. As we learn here, Tom Tolbert will be doing color commentary for tonight's game, so I'll be hitting mute on the remote.

Weather is supposed to be shitty in OKC tonight. Ice-storms and the like. If you're going to the game, wear two pairs of socks.

A win tonight would give the Hornets their first winning streak since November. November!!

Coming off Wednesday's blowout win in Atlanta and with news that David West may return next week, things are looking a little brighter for us Hornets' fans right now. At least one win from this back-to-back and a W for the Saints this weekend may ease my dose of the heebie-jeebies.